The most widely used conventional method of oil extraction is by steam distillation, which works in the following way. Boilers are used to create steam by heating water. The steam and a target material are combined in a flash chamber. The target material releases its oils into the steam, which is then condensed and collected into a secondary vessel, where it is allowed to separate and the oil removed and utilized. This method usually requires the burning of fossil fuels or wood to begin the process (boilers making steam) and it uses large amounts of energy and time to achieve the desired outcome.
Current microwave-assisted methods of exposing materials directly to microwave energy achieve a similar outcome as steam distillation, but require less time and energy. Most microwave extraction techniques are small batch processes used only for analysis, and they have no direct commercial value. However the larger batch techniques use up to twenty or more magnetrons and require repeated exposures to microwaves to achieve the desired results. The common oil extraction techniques by microwave-assisted distillation are hydro-distillation and dry-distillation. Hydro-distillation is accomplished by heating the target material in a container of liquid. Dry-distillation is accomplished by percolating steam through a grid holding the target material. Solvents can be included in these prior art processes to accelerate the extraction process.
Present approaches to natural material extraction suffer from a variety of drawbacks, limitations, disadvantages and problems, including processing time, and energy consumption. There was a need for an improved microwave-enhanced natural material extraction that would overcome the drawbacks, limitations, disadvantages and problems of the prior art.